Welcome the UCL #workinglives recommendation of the early implementation of a firewall, or secure reporting by the Fair Work Agency @focusonlabour.bsky.social @drellac.bsky.social
Dr Ella Cockbain
@drellac.bsky.social
Professor at UCL. Lead of Research Group on Human Trafficking,Smuggling & Exploitation. Researching precarious work & labour exploitation. New (free) book on anti-trafficking evaluation https://uclpress.co.uk/book/evaluating-anti-trafficking-interventions/
New NBER research asks a simple question: does an ICE enforcement surge create jobs for U.S.-born workers? The answer, based on federal labor data across 58 regions, is no.
Hope to see some colleagues and students at the Fair Work Agency/UCL conference on May 13/14. I'll be speaking about the role of trade unions on the second day @sriucl.bsky.social @uclsociology.bsky.social
Dr Ella Cockbain@drellac.bsky.social · 3mo agoConference will launch a landmark study & showcase cutting-edge research & practice from around the world. Keynotes from Matthew Taylor, David Weil, Virginia Mantouvalou & Alex Bryson. 2/3 @vmantouvalou.bsky.social @alexbryson.bsky.social @profsheenalives.bsky.social @uclnews.bsky.social
Happening next week! Last tickets still available if you’d like to join.
Dr Ella Cockbain@drellac.bsky.social · 3mo agoInterested in workers’ rights, their protection and enforcement? Come join us at the Working Lives Conference in London on 13 & 14 May 2026, co-hosted by UCL and the Fair Work Agency. We’ve got an amazing line up for you (1/2) www.ucl.ac.uk/engineering/...
Interested in workers’ rights, their protection and enforcement? Come join us at the Working Lives Conference in London on 13 & 14 May 2026, co-hosted by UCL and the Fair Work Agency. We’ve got an amazing line up for you (1/2) www.ucl.ac.uk/engineering/...
Working Lives Conference
Working Lives: The scale and nature of precarious work and labour market non-compliance in the UK and beyond. Presented by UCL Department of Security and Crime Science.
ucl.ac.uk
Interested in workers’ rights, their protection and enforcement? Come join us at the Working Lives Conference in London on 13 & 14 May 2026, co-hosted by UCL and the Fair Work Agency. We’ve got an amazing line up for you (1/2) www.ucl.ac.uk/engineering/...
Working Lives Conference
Working Lives: The scale and nature of precarious work and labour market non-compliance in the UK and beyond. Presented by UCL Department of Security and Crime Science.
ucl.ac.uk
Check out our new #callforpapers! This issue will highlight examples of cross-sectoral, cross-movement solidarities to fight marginalisation and oppression 👉🏼https://antitraffickingreview.org/index.php/atrjournal/announcement/view/51 Guest editors @drellac.bsky.social and @joelquirk.bsky.social
Late sharing cos was unwell, but here’s our farewell from openDemocracy’s Beyond Trafficking & Slavery. What a privilege to have been part of the editorial team. I learnt so much from our incredible contributors & the amazing Cam Thibos, Melissa Pawson & @joelquirk.bsky.social . Thank you all ❤️
Beyond Slavery@beyondslavery.bsky.social · 8mo agoOur final editorial: THANK YOU to everyone who helped us make BTS a success over the past 11 years. We will forever be in your debt, and we will miss you! Take care. www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-tr...
“You cannot build ethical AI on the foundation of exploited, traumatized human labor. If the training data comes from people who were psychologically destroyed in the process of creating it, then the technology itself is tainted from the start.” Powerful report on the emotional labour building AI.
The Emotional Labor Behind AI Intimacy, by Michael Geoffrey Asia.
Imagine confiding your most private fantasies to what you believe is an unfeeling algorithm that cannot judge or remember. Now imagine that on the other side of that conversation is a man sitting in a...
data-workers.org
New #CallforPapers! This issue will aim to highlight cases of intersectional, intermovement alliance and solidarity building between different marginalised and oppressed groups. See call 👉🏼 www.antitraffickingreview.org/index.php/at... Guest editors @drellac.bsky.social & @joelquirk.bsky.social
So many of the problems with the UK asylum system - culture of disbelief, poor or nonexistent advice, endless delays, cruel accommodation policies - rolled into one awful case. @diane-writer10.bsky.social always gets the human stories others miss or don’t care about
The life and limbo of a UK asylum seeker: one man’s harrowing 17-year wait for leave to remain
Ussu fled imprisonment and torture, only to find himself treated like a liar and outcast in the UK. Here’s how he survived homelessness and horrific injury in almost two decades without a decision
theguardian.com
Latest in our solidarities series: fascinating reflections on striking workers in South Africa finding common ground with Palestine solidarity activists. I like that this series doesn’t shy away from tensions & challenges, as well as benefits. By Maya Bhardwaj for @beyondslavery.bsky.social .
opendemocracy.net@opendemocracy.net · 8mo agoClover in South Africa: where workers’ rights met Palestine solidarity
It’s so depressing that ECPAT & Missing People are once again needing to raise the alarm over trafficked and unaccompanied children going missing from care in the U.K. They’ve been highlighting this problem for years and it’s such a serious safeguarding issue.
ECPAT UK@ecpatuk.bsky.social · 8mo agoA new report from ECPAT UK and Missing People shows that more than 2,000 trafficked and/or unaccompanied children went missing from care in the UK in 2024. These children are at particularly high risk of exploitation and other types of harm when missing. Read the story ➡️ tinyurl.com/bdz9bzwe
Radical feminists and religious groups got into bed together once. Now they're broadening the affair, says @gaatw.bsky.social www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-tr...
A bizarre new alliance is coming after sexual freedoms
Radical feminists and religious groups teamed up against sex work. Now they’re going after broader reproductive freedoms
opendemocracy.net
Survivors should not be #LivingInLimbo. New report from @rapecrisis.bsky.social exposes the severe harm the Crown Courts backlog is having on survivors of rape and sexual abuse. Find out more and take action ⤵️ rapecrisis.org.uk/get-involved...
Our Human Trafficking Lead @mayal-n.bsky.social has written about the growing attack on sexual freedoms, the (mis)use of anti-trafficking frameworks to do so, + the opportunity it has given us to join an incredible alliance of feminist LGBTI rights activists: www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-tr...
A bizarre new alliance is coming after sexual freedoms
Radical feminists and religious groups teamed up against sex work. Now they’re going after broader reproductive freedoms
opendemocracy.net
This is how the far right should be covered and analysed Not focusing only on the words or actions of one man but by looking at wider societal trends, the role of the mainstream and of course accounting for power This is not (just) opinion, it's necessary analysis
Musa Okwonga@okwonga.bsky.social · 8mo agowww.theguardian.com/commentisfre... - my new article, if of interest please share.
Vital piece on attempts to frame all surrogacy as trafficking & the coalitions pushing & opposing this. Important insights into the transphobia & attacks on reproductive freedoms involved, by @mayal-n.bsky.social @gaatw.bsky.social for our solidarity series @beyondslavery.bsky.social
opendemocracy.net@opendemocracy.net · 8mo agoA bizarre new alliance is coming after sexual freedoms. We’re ready
If only there were some clue from his subsequent political career
Twenty people allege he has a racist past. He denies it. Who’s telling the truth about Farage’s schooldays?
Reform UK’s leader refuses to answer questions about his abusive behaviour, claiming there’s ‘no evidence’. We talk to victims and witnesses
theguardian.com
“They treat us worse than dogs", one worker told me. Based on reporting in Huelva & Lleida, my latest for Jacobin looks at how climate breakdown is aggravating yet further the harsh realities faced by migrant farm workers in Spain's lucrative agri-industrial sector. jacobin.com/2025/10/spai...
In Spain, Farmworkers Are Dying in the Heat
Three migrant farmworkers died from heatstroke in Spain this summer. Largely ignored by media, their fate illustrates how the effects of the climate crisis are offloaded on the least visible workers.
jacobin.com
A few weeks ago this Reform rising star went on LBC & said young people were being paid too much,citing his experience in hospitality. So we looked into his companies & found 3 tribunal judgments for failure to pay wages, holiday pay & provide contracts www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...
Delighted to co-author this piece urging the de-silo-ing of anti-trafficking work, & genuine solidarity with grassroots movements.
opendemocracy.net@opendemocracy.net · 9mo agoWhy can't anti-trafficking be more radical?
Important piece. The many worrying human impacts come through very strongly here. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Up to 50,000 nurses could quit UK over immigration plans, survey suggests
Exclusive: union leaders say proposed changes are immoral and could threaten patient safety if there is staff exodus
theguardian.com
Congratulations to Ella Cockbain and Aiden Sidebottom and Sheldon X. Zhang and their contributors! Their #OpenAccess book Evaluating Anti-Trafficking Interventions published today. Read and download free at: bit.ly/4oc6Lxg #HumanTrafficking #ForcedLabour
Evaluating Anti-Trafficking Interventions
Explore the complexities of trafficking and the importance of effective evaluation in anti-trafficking interventions and measures.
bit.ly
Despite huge sums spent on anti-trafficking, there are staggeringly few evaluations of interventions & growing evidence of harms caused. This new edited book with @uclpress.bsky.social is our attempt to help change that. 1/ Open access with free digital downloads: uclpress.co.uk/book/evaluat...
Evaluating Anti-Trafficking Interventions
Explore the complexities of trafficking and the importance of effective evaluation in anti-trafficking interventions and measures.
uclpress.co.uk
“the anti-trafficking section treats collaboration more like conquest.” New in our solidarities series is this super sharp piece on alternative visions for change, by Sophie Otiende & @christianashnc.bsky.social @beyondslavery.bsky.social www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-tr...
Why can't anti-trafficking be more radical?
Anti-trafficking has always been the handmaiden of Global North power, never its rebellious daughter. Let’s change that
opendemocracy.net
Today is International Men’s Day. So here’s to refugee men fleeing abuse, trans men denied healthcare, queer men bullied for being different, Black men racially profiled, disabled men excluded from work, and all the other men who fail at being “real men.” May we continue to cultivate our humanity.
"Let me be clear: this wasn’t some magical turning point where sex workers & cops became best friends. … We haven’t forgotten being hunted, harassed & humiliated … But it taught us something powerful: both sides are capable, if only for a moment, of putting all that aside. Doing so can save lives."💯
Dr Ella Cockbain@drellac.bsky.social · 9mo agoNext up in our solidarities series is this brilliant piece on an unlikely tactical alliance. Unsettling and important look at the tensions involved and lessons from it. By Alex Andrews of @swopbehindbars.bsky.social for @beyondslavery.bsky.social www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-tr...
Excited to see this published: peer reviewed publication on trafficking survivors’ experiences with journalists. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
